By PASTOR MARK MOLINA
Living Waters Church
Special to the NEWS
Pastor Mark Molina
As the story of Moses continues, we see him sitting alone by a well. He had just crossed the Sinai Desert on foot. He was fleeing Egypt after murdering an Egyptian. Moses committed this murder trying to defend his own people. What was this trait in Moses that made him want to nobly defend the Israelite? He had been educated, raised and prepared to be a leader in Egypt in the house of the Pharaoh himself. Why was Moses now identifying with slaves? Why should he even care when all the best of life had been given to him? No one but his mother, sister and the daughter of Pharaoh knew who he really was. Why didn’t he just stay in the place that his new station in life gave him? He was destined for the throne of Pharaoh! How could all of this have happened?
“By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” (Hebrews 11:23-25 NIV).
From birth, Moses had a holy call on his life. At first sight, his parents were immediately aware of his divine destiny. They refused to allow him to be murdered by the Pharaoh’s soldiers. Along the way, Moses found out who he really was. Moses found out who his people really were. When he grew up, he made a decision to be with the people of his birth and his destiny. He rejected privilege for poverty. He rejected social status for slavery. He rejected the throne that deception offered him and exchanged it for the subjugation that the truth brought to him.
Moses’ decision to be with his people rather than in the palace came from the heart of a deliverer. His zeal to see his people set free from their suffering contributed to his passionate, spontaneous act of defense that resulted in murder. “Zeal without knowledge is not good. How much more will hasty feet miss the way.” (Proverbs 19:2)
This is one of my favorite Bible verses. When I was in Infantry School in the US Army, I was the Alpha Team leader for my Training Company. I was leading the company through a “movement to contact” training exercise. When the objective came in sight, I got so excited that I gave the verbal command to initiate the assault. I was so excited I took off running straight ahead and I forgot my responsibility to look for booby traps. I hit a tripwire to a Hoffman device causing loud whistling sounds, smoke and bangs! My Drill Sergeant ran up to me yelling, “Why didn’t you follow your training? You just killed everyone one behind you!” I responded, “I am sorry Drill Sergeant, I got so motivated when I saw the enemy!” He had seen multiple tours of combat in Vietnam and he responded with the wisdom learned from being under enemy fire. He screamed in my face, “Private Molina, too much motivation will get you killed in combat! You cannot forget your training and your purpose!”
This is what we do sometimes. We forget who we really are and the purposes that God has for our lives. We get tunnel vision on the issue in front of us and forget the full counsel of the Word of God. We charge ahead with our own ideas, in our strength, in our own understanding. This is what Moses did. We know God has an assignment for our lives yet we run headlong into trouble when our passions are aroused, because we do not stop long enough to restrain ourselves for that greater purpose.
We may not like or want to admit it, but it is easy for all of us to respond like Moses did. If we do not balance our zeal with accurate knowledge and understanding we can miss the path that God has planned for us.
